Polymer crystalline materials

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides polymer crystalline materials containing crystals of the polymer and satisfying the following requirements (I) and (II) or the following requirements (I) and (III): (I) the polymer crystalline materials a crystallinity of 70% or greater; (II) the crystals are 300 nm or less in size; and (III) the crystals have a number density of 40 μm −3 or greater. This allows an embodiment of the present invention to provide polymer crystalline materials which are excellent in properties such as mechanical strength, heat tolerance, and transparency or, in particular, polymer crystalline materials, based on a general-purpose plastic such as PP, which is excellent in properties such as mechanical strength, heat tolerance, and transparency.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. Bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials comprising crystals of the polymer and satisfying the following requirements (I) and (II):
 (I) the bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials have a crystallinity of 80% or greater; and 
 (II) the crystals are 100 nm or less in size, 
 wherein the crystallinity X c  is calculated using following Equation (1)
     X   c =1−( I   a   /I   a   0 )  Equation (1)
 
 
 
       where I a  is an integrated scattering intensity of amorphous contained in a sample and I a   0  is an integrated scattering intensity of a 100% amorphous sample, the 100% amorphous sample having a crystallinity of 0%, and
 wherein said bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials are obtained by a production method including the steps of (i) putting a polymer melt in an oriented melt state by elongating the polymer melt at a strain rate of 400 s 1  or greater which is greater than a critical elongation strain rate of 150 s −1 , and (ii) crystallizing the polymer melt while keeping the polymer melt in the oriented melt state. 
 
     
     
       2. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 , said bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials having a tensile strength of 0.18 GPa or greater, measured by:
 a tensile testing method, said method being carried out by stretching a sample at a tensile rate of 0.3 mm/sec at 22° C. with use of a Shimadzu's precision universal tester (Autograph AG-1kNIS); and 
 a Young's modulus of 1 GPa or greater. 
 
     
     
       3. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 , said bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials having a tensile strength of 0.2 GPa or greater, measured by:
 a tensile testing method, said method being carried out by stretching a sample at a tensile rate of 0.3 mm/sec at 22° C. with use of a Shimadzu's precision universal tester (Autograph AG-1kNIS); and 
 a Young's modulus of 1.2 GPa or greater. 
 
     
     
       4. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 , said bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials having a haze (thickness of 10 μm) of 0.25 or less, measured by a transmitted light intensity measurement method, said transmitted light intensity measurement method being performed by measuring an amount of light transmitted through a 10-μm-thick test piece. 
     
     
       5. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 4 , said bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials having a haze (thickness of 10 μm) of 0.20 or less, measured by the transmitted light intensity measurement method. 
     
     
       6. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the polymer is one selected from polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride. 
     
     
       7. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the polymer is polypropylene. 
     
     
       8. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 7 , said bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials having an allowable temperature limit of 135° C. or greater, said allowable temperature limit being a temperature at which, when a test piece with the dimensions 1 mm (long)×1 mm (wide)×15 μm (thick) heated at a temperature rising rate of 1 K/min, the test piece is contracted by 2% in a longitudinal direction or in a transverse direction, measured by a method for directly reading size of a test piece. 
     
     
       9. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the polymer melt is one selected from polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride. 
     
     
       10. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the polymer melt is a polypropylene melt. 
     
     
       11. The bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the polymer melt is an isotactic polypropylene melt. 
     
     
       12. A molded article, comprising:
 bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 . 
 
     
     
       13. An extrusion molded article, comprising:
 bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 . 
 
     
     
       14. An injection molded article, comprising:
 bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 . 
 
     
     
       15. A blow molded article, comprising:
 bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 . 
 
     
     
       16. A fiber, comprising: bulk oriented polymer crystalline materials as set forth in  claim 1 .